The Best 50 Dollar A Pair Speakers Ever ??

[dbullis]

Almost there

I've been pushing these new speakers with everyting I can throw at them and I thought I found their match when I put on Bach's Tri Sonatas for organ. It wasn't the bass notes they distressed at: it was the highs. Lots of buzzing at the highest notes. I cranked it up further and voila! Buzzing gone and the highs ring out proudly. With the help of the Azden equalizer I can crank up the highs and lows to get the most out of them. I'm playing some dense Wagner on them right now and they are standing up very proudly. I could never say these were $49 speakers if I didn't know any better. I agree with a previous poster that the one really surprising thing about these is their imaging. Adding a HSU subwoofer into the system makes them even better, but I'm running them alone without the sub just to push them hard. 'Nuff said. I'm impressed!

 

[roseskunk]

damn you guys are great! i was just contemplating buying another amp (my seventh) this morning when common sense kicked in (i hate when that happens...) and told myself, "no more amps until you actually use them." okay, so i need a decent cheap speaker, so where do i look? my friends at ak. and damn, this pair sounds great! no, i mean they sound great from what you're telling me, i haven't bought them yet...but i will.
so the only question i have...i put socks in my ports, but how the heck do you walk around? these damned speakers hurt my feet...:thmbsp:

 

[onwardjames]

For me, the $40 price is somehow liberating because they shouldn't sound as good as they do. QUOTE]


Yep. Sums it up nicely. LOVING my insignias. And I'm sure those Sony's sound better. For 50% more money, sure, they should. Never been impressed with much of anything Sony ever did in the way of speakers, although I need to hear these spoken of....

 

[johnny ro]

thanks URIZEN for straw item

I did it on other speakers as well, smooths the bass a bit on small boomy speakers. Length is a tuning parameter I suppose, I am unscientifically pleased with 1" lengths of straw sitting in the port.

They keep the mice out as well.

 

[johnny ro]

breakin easy way

I like the facing-each-other-out-of-phase trick, leave on for 100 hours straight.

I filled mine with the hard-rock putty stuff, but chickened out on the crossover. Added a 1/8" layer of liquid nails for more cabinet damping, and put in a few 3/16" dowel braces. replaced the tweeter caps with cheap Daytons. Thinking of layer of laminate on cabinet outside for more stiffening.

Removed ports, got new ones from parts express of about same size.

Waiting for things to dry, cant wait to hear if they are better sounding. Might buy a second set.

They are so cheap, almost makes sense to toss cabinet and make better boxes.

 

[johnny ro]

sony ssx30ed

Hmm...anyone else have any opinions on the SS-X30EDs?

I can't say I do have an opinion on them, but I love my stiffened ss-k30ed and the X is uprange from the k model so I think I would like it more. I will grab more Ks if circuit city ever brings in another container.

I should go buy some used Kefs and then some BWs to see how the real thing sounds. I believe both the Insignia and Sony speakers mentioned are imitation products, good though they be. Not rip-off copies, but using principles figured out by others, at lower price points. Sort of like BMW styling cues found on japanese or korean cars.

You can find words on the ss-x70ed here

http://agoraquest.com/viewtopic.php?topic=10236&forum=51

and elsewhere on the site, incuding a Sony authored white paper on it.

 

[onwardjames]

I like the facing-each-other-out-of-phase trick, leave on for 100 hours straight.

I filled mine with the hard-rock putty stuff, but chickened out on the crossover. Added a 1/8" layer of liquid nails for more cabinet damping, and put in a few 3/16" dowel braces. replaced the tweeter caps with cheap Daytons. Thinking of layer of laminate on cabinet outside for more stiffening.

Removed ports, got new ones from parts express of about same size.

Waiting for things to dry, cant wait to hear if they are better sounding. Might buy a second set.

They are so cheap, almost makes sense to toss cabinet and make better boxes.

See, I chickened as well....new cheap Daytons....wonder if that made a difference?? Maybe just substitute some better caps on the boards??

Seemed to me the straw porting trick just diminished the very low stuff. Maybe shorter straws... 1 inch seems to work for some people.

 

[markallen]

I see that the Radiient Europa, noted at the beginning of this thread as similar to the Insignia NS-B2111, is now promoted at just $99 pair with free ground shipping:

http://www.radiient.com/s.nl/it.A/id.5/.f?sc=2&category=32

Anyone here ever do a direct comparison? I'd like to know if the Radiients are worth twice the money (specs claim better frequency response, something to do with that nifty extra appendage on top?). My local BB still has the Insignias available at $50 pair.

 

[shrinkboy]

what really closes the deal for me on the radiients is that THEY ARE SACD CAPABLE!!

 

[Clarence]

i hate my insignias.

 

[roseskunk]

i went to BB last weekend to snag a pair of these, but the guy couldn't find 'em. he said they have some kind of customer program where when the store doesn't have them, they'll ship you a pair for free, so that's what i did. just got 'em today, less than a week later. i've got a 'sui 719 just waiting to make some noise...probably won't be great, but i'm a little thin on the green right now and they'll fill my office with plenty of sound. and if i don't like 'em, they'll go to a friend who doesn't have any speakers...:thmbsp: :thmbsp:

 

[roseskunk]

just hooked the insig's up. they're at ear height on actual bookshelves, and i have to say that they sound pretty damned good. i listened to eric dolphy's "out to lunch" and now bach's suites for solo cello. they're a bit bright, but they haven't been broken in at all and they're handling pierre fournier's big axe pretty well. for fifty bucks?!? forget about it!

 

[YamahaFreak]

Something stinks in Wisconsin

Anybody wanna bet the Insignias and Radiients are built in the same factory?:scratch2:

 

[doug s.]

never heard the insignias, but i'd wonder how they'd compare to a pair of sansui sp2500's i yust picked up for $25. :scratch2:

doug s.

 

[YamahaFreak]

never heard the insignias, but i'd wonder how they'd compare to a pair of sansui sp2500's i yust picked up for $25. :scratch2:

doug s.

They get their arses kicked:huge: :huge:
Nice score, BTW:thmbsp:

 

[doug s.]

thanks for the encouragement! i yust got them yesterday evening, mebbe tonite i will have a chance to hook them up...

doug s.

They get their arses kicked:huge: :huge:
Nice score, BTW:thmbsp:

 

[YamahaFreak]

thanks for the encouragement! i yust got them yesterday evening, mebbe tonite i will have a chance to hook them up...

doug s.

I believe you will be pleasantly surprised

 

[doug s.]

it looks like this weekend will be when i get to hear them. i suspect they will be really nice, based upon web info i was able to glean. these speakers cost me ~1% of what i paid for my main speakers, so if they are anywhere close to those, it will be gravy!

doug s.

I believe you will be pleasantly surprised

 

[YamahaFreak]

it looks like this weekend will be when i get to hear them. i suspect they will be really nice, based upon web info i was able to glean. these speakers cost me ~1% of what i paid for my main speakers, so if they are anywhere close to those, it will be gravy!

doug s.

What are your main speakers? :scratch2:

 

[doug s.]

What are your main speakers? :scratch2:

coincident victory's. retail $5k (now $6k, for the victory II); i got them for quite a bit less. i really like them; they use a custom iteration of a hi-vi research tweet - one of the best tweets around, imo. one of the main reasons i bought these speakers w/o ever having heard them was cuz it had this tweet; i had heard it in a pair of swans bookshelf speakers prewiously. and, i wanted efficient speakers; the victory's are 97db-efficient. so far, i have been wery happy - they are killer on 10" stands, & crossed over to subs - a cheap iteration of coincident's $13k super victory's. mine are the lighter color, which i happen to prefer..

http://www.coincidentspeaker.com/victory.html

http://www.coincidentspeaker.com/total_victory_ii.html

do you think we went off topic enough here? :scratch2:

doug s.